"Always Human"

When he's not knob-twiddling as Actress, Londoner Darren Cunningham is busy running his own label, Werk Discs, which put out Zomby's astounding 'ardcore-nostalgia trip, 2008's Where Were U in '92?. While that record's sound was rooted in 1990s rave, Actress' sophomore full-length, Splazsh, sounds like it resides in another time period-- maybe another world. Melodies flow at irregular intervals, and beats are buried under low-bitrate static and fuzz-- that is, when there are discernable beats to be found. It's not exactly dance music, unless your idea of dancing involves a lot of queasy, pitched movements.

All this experimentalism makes for a fascinating listen-- and it also makes Splazsh's more accessible moments stand out as immediate highlights. "Always Human" is one of those moments. Coming right after the distanced thumps of "Bubble Butts and Equations", the strobed vocal samples here are downright euphoric, right down to the cut-up cries of "I love you too" that echo across the cut. The tech-y sounds strewn about interlock like Legos, forming a solid sub-rhythm under the track's 4/4 thud. For a while, it sounds like club music, but then Cunningham drops a pitched-down vocal sample into the mix as electro-scarred noise seeps into the tune. He keeps 'em moving, and moving forward as well.